Political parties in Russia divorced from civil society - opinion

December 01, 2011, 22:03 UTC+3Mikhail Fedotov said that he is for “sharply limiting the value of such a resource as money.”

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WARSAW, December 1 (Itar-Tass) —— The main problem with the coming election to the State Duma in Russia is that the parties that will take part in the election are divorced from civil society, Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the Council at the Russian President for the Promotion of Civil Society and Human Rights, who attends the Russia-EU Civil Society Forum under way in the Polish capital, told reporters on Thursday.

“It is the political parties that participate in the election, not civil society. The existing political parties are largely apart from society,” he noted.

“We in the Council hold that it is necessary to reform our electoral system as it does not yield the result it should – it does not help bring a new generation of policy makers, bright personalities, into the bodies of power,” he said. “Regrettably, a new generation of politicians is not recruited into parliament,” Fedotov added.

“We should return to the very beginning of the perestroika processes and instead of adopting the mixed election system with election from one-seat constituencies and on the proportionate basis, should only have election from one-seat constituencies in order to bring personalities to parliament,” the head of the council stressed.

Regarding the election law reform, he said that he is for “sharply limiting the value of such a resource as money.”

Asked about the possibility of protest actions that might take place following the results of the December 4 State Duma election, Fedotov said that ”there will be no problem if they are held in accordance with law.”